Dispensing device



United States 3,082,914 DISPENSING DEVICE Wiihnr Gill, 8709 NE. PrairieRoad, Skokie, Ill. Filed Nov. 6, 1958, Ser. No. 772,339 i Claim. (ci.222-135) atent The objects of the invention are obtained by providing atubular container containing a plunger and an opening at one end closedby a plug. The plug and plunger are both operated by a left (or right)handed screw and a cap controlling the screw is provided at the endopposite the plug which cap is constructed so as to control the screw insuch a way that rotating the cap and screw to the right (or left) firstremoves the plug and then operates the plunger to force the contentsthrough the opening.

The device of the invention is useful for carrying and dispensing anykind of liquids, pastes or crystals which one does not wish to touch,for example. A special use is for the injection of vitamin compositionsinto the animal body.

`In the drawing:

FIG. l is a cross sectional view of the device of the invention asapplied to a hypodermic injection device.

FIG. 2 is a cross sectional view of the device of the invention in thecondition for carrying the liquid, paste or powder.

FIGS. 3 and 4 are views similar to FIG. 2 but showing what takes placeas the cap is rotated.

The device of the invention comprises a tubular casing 10. The lower endof the casing slopes inwardly and contains an axial opening 11 and theopposite end has an opening of the same size as the tubular portion andcontains a flange 12. If desired an annular depression 13 may beprovided adjacent the lower end (see FIG. l) in which a projecting ringmay be positioned to snap into a similar depression 21 on an additionalouter casing 20.

The top or flanged end of the casing 10 is covered by a cap 21 which isshown as made in two parts although it is obvious that it can be made ofone integral` part especially when it is made of relatively flexibleplastic material such as polyethylene or polypropylene. Axiallyprojecting from the center of the cap 21 is a rod 22 the upper portion23 of which is provided with left handed screw threads and the lowerportion 24 of which is smooth surfaced and ends in plug 25 which can bethreaded, if desired. The center portion of cap is united to the ring 26which contains an internal flange 27 which approximately matches theexternal flange 12 on casing 10. The i'lt between flange 27 and casing10 is not so tight to prevent passage of air therethrough or, ifdesired, the ange 27 may be provided with an air hole to eliminatesuction. When the plug 25 is in place in opening 11 of the casing thereis a space 3l) between the flanges 12 and 27 as shown in FIGS. l and 2.The provision for the space 30 is a very important feature of the devicefor reasons which will be further described below when the operation ofthe device is described. There may be a threaded engagement betweenflange 27 and casing 10.

The plunger 40 is slidable within the casing 10 and Mice comprises thescrew threads 41 interiitting with the threads of the screw portion 23of projecting rod 22. The two ends 42 and 43 of the plunger 40 fittightly within the tubular portion of the casing 10 but the intermediateportion 44 is reduced in size to reduce the friction of the plunger. Inaddition a longitudinal groove 45 is provided in the intermediate region44 of reduced size. A plug 15 is united to the casing 10 so as toproject inwardly and extend into the groove 45. This plug prevents theplunger 40 from turning when the cap 21 and screw 23 is rotated. `It isfound, however, that the device works very well without the plug 15. Thelower end 42 of the plunger 40 fits clo-sely about the rod end 24 so asto wipe said rod when said plunger is moved toward the plug end ofchamber 10. If desired the end 42 of the plunger may be made to fitexactly against the internal conical portion 16 of casing 10 so as tosqueeze the last portion of the contents from casing 10.

The Operation of the Device The operation of the device will bedescribed in connection with the injection of vitamins. The invention isof special utility in this connection since many vitamins are solidswhich lose their potency when dissolved in' a solvent and stored for anylength of time. It is, therefore, advantageous to dissolve thesevitamins lunder sterile conditions immediately before injecting. In sucha process the powdered vitamins are inserted into the outer casing 20 ofFIG. l which has been sterilized and the casing 10 which has been filledwith the desired solvent for the vitamins is inserted into casing 20until the ring or projection at 13 snaps into place. The casing 20 isprovided with a sterile hypodermic needle 50' (only partly shown). Whenthe parts are assembled the cap 21 is turned to the right. The firstmovement produced by the screw thread 23 on turning the cap 21 to theright will be the movement of the cap upwardly from the position shownin FIG. 2, for example, to the position shown in FIG. 3. The cap iscaused to move upwardly rather than the plunger 40 being moveddownwardly because the force required to move the cap is less than theforce required to move the plunger 40. However, when the flange 27 ofcap ring 26 meets the flange 12 of casing 10 it is no longer possiblefor the cap to move further in the upward or outward direction withrespect to casing 10. The movement of the cap 21 upwardly withdraws plug25 from opening 11 so that the liquid or contents are adapted to flowthrough said opening 11.

When the cap 21 has moved up until in the position shown in FIG. 3 sothat flanges 27 and 12 are in contact, further rotation of said cap inthe same direction forces the piston 40 to move down towards opening 11so as to expel the contents. In the chamber of the second casing 20, theliquid dissolves the powdered vitamins and is injected through needle 50into the animal body. If mixing is desired the cap 211 may be turned oneway and then the other to draw the mix back into the casing 1l) andforce it out again, etc.

The device is also useful for carrying and injecting accelerators orcatalysts into resin forming compositions especially since many suchcatalysts and accelerators cause skin disturbances if they come intocontact therewith.

' The casings 10 and 20 are very satisfactory when -rnade of glass ortransparent plastic material, the remaining parts may be made of metalor opaque or transparent plastic material although obviously thematerials of which said parts are made should be inert to the contentswith which the device is to be used.

The features and principles underlying the invention described above inconnection with specific exemplications will suggest to those skilled inthe art many other modifications thereof. lt is accordingly Adesiredthat the appended claim shall Anot be limited to any specific feature ordetails thereof.

A ldispensing device for mixing two materials immediately beforedispensing comprising a rst tubular casing having walls which extendinwardly at a first end with an axial opening of smaller size than theinternal diameter of said casing therein, the other end of said firsttubular casing being open and having an exterior 'flange Ythereon, capmeans rotatably mounted on said open end -of said first tubular casing,said cap means having a ring portion with an internal fiange adapted tomake Contact with the exterior flange of said casing, the top part ofsaid cap being extended over the flange at said other end of saidcasing, the flange on said ring portion being spaced from the top partof said cap a distance greater than the width of the tiange on thecasing, said cap containing .a projecting portion extending axially ofthe casing for the length of the casing, said projecting portion endingin a plug adapted to close the opening at the first end of said casingfrom the inside of the latter, a piston slidably mounted in said casing,said piston having a length equal to at least about half the length ofsaid tubular casing, cooperating means on the exterior -surface of saidpiston and the interior surface of said 'casing to retain said piston ina relatively fixed angular relationship with respect to the axis of saidcasing Yregardless of the longitudinal position of the piston withinsaid casing, said `piston having Ian axial bore through which saidprojecting portion passes, the end of said projecting portion 'nearestthe cap being externally threaded, at least a portion of the axial boreof said piston being internally threaded to match the threads of saidprojecting portion whereby rotation of the cap in one direction iirstmoves said cap upwardly and the plug away from the opening at theopposite end of the casing and further rotation in 'the same directionmoves said piston tov/ard said opening to force the contents through thelatter, a second tubular casing surrounding said first casing andslidably mounted with respect to said first casing, said second casinghaving a first end including inwardly extending walls, parallel walls,and an end wall terminating in an opening, sealing means on the outerportion of the first end of the first casing providing a liquid tightseal between the first and second tubular casing so that the firstcasing can act as a piston for said second casing whereby liquidmaterial from the first casing may be mixed with material in the secondcasing and the mixture expressed from the opening in the second casingby utilizing the first casing as a piston in the second casing.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Re.13,556 Craven Apr. 22, 1913 993,511 Craven May 30, 1911 1,609,479 LoebenDec. 7, 1926 2,165,825 Von Bultzingslowen July 11, 1939 2,272,641 MureauFeb. 10, 1942 2,276,722 Hillman et al Mar. 17, 1942 2,329,367 WeisenbergSept. 14, 1943 2,349,726 Holler May 23, 1944 2,353,355 Okies July 11,1944 2,626,087 Howard et al. Jan. 20, 1953 2,738,905 Olson Mar. 120,1956 2,841,145 Epps July 1, 1958

